U-M Linguists Starting a Project to Document the Language and Culture of Native Americans in Michigan
San Duanmu (Professor, Linguistics), Steve Abney (Associate Professor, Linguistics), and Barbra Meek (Associate Professor, Anthropology) are currently working on their M-Cubed project. This project will document the language and culture of native Americans in Michigan. During the summer, they travelled to Bay Mills in the Upper Peninsula to meet with their potential partners. "The purpose of the meeting was to get to know each other and to find out what kind of things we would like to and can accomplish," explained San. Further trips are planned for the 2016-2017 academic year as well.
The M-Cubed initiative at UM provides immediate starting funds for interdisciplinary projects that involve three faculty members from at least two different units. The goal is to encourager pilot explorations of new ideas before traditional grant cycles become available.
This meeting was facilitated by Dana Sitzler, Associate Director of State Outreach at the U-M Office of State Outreach. The Office of State Outreach, “provides a direct line of communication between the University of Michigan and Michigan communities. Their goal is to increase awareness of University of Michigan resources for research and service that would be of benefit to Michigan communities. To accomplish this, they regularly travel the state to establish and maintain personal contact with communities and local government leaders,” according to their webpage.